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Standing among the more modern housing of Mansion Gate to the east of Chapeltown Road, between Gledhow Park Road and Harehills Lane, this elegant mansion was built between 1835-40 for the Leeds industrialist John Hives, partner in the still-surviving flax manufacturer, Banks Mills on the north bank of the river Aire, to the west of the Royal Armouries Museum.

The two-storey mansion is 11 bays wide and eventually became part of the Leeds Chapel Allerton Hospital.

24th May 1950. Built in the 1830s, architect John Clark, in Greek Revival style with Ionic Portico. Owner John Hives. Was used to provide medical facilities in First World War, became part of Chapel Allerton Hospital.

The original Chapel Allerton Hospital was opened in May 1927 by HRH Princess Mary, and was located in the grounds of the stately mansion of Gledhow Grove, off Harehills Lane, with the house itself also being used as part of the site of the new hospital.

The hospital, then run by the Ministry of Pensions, was built in response to the continuing needs of thousands of servicemen who returned having suffered grievous wounds during the first world war.

Costing approximately GBP 130,000, the hospital provided 200 beds and was designed to cater for former military personnel from Yorkshire, East Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, replacing the older military hospital at Beckett's Park in Leeds.

Hospital wards were strictly segregated between officers and other ranks, as was the custom at that time.

As war loomed in Europe again in the late 1930s, thought was given to the need to expand facilities at Chapel Allerton Hospital. It was thought, wrongly as it turned out, that casualties in the new conflict would be on the scale of those seen in the First World War.

After the war, Chapel Allerton Hospital passed from the control of the Ministry of Pensions to the Ministry of Health in 1953. With the gradual decrease in numbers of war pensioners needing treatment, the hospital took on a more general role.

By the 1970s, serious concern was being expressed at the state of parts of the hospital, and total closure was one option discussed. Instead, a new GBP1.2m development, the Newton Green Wing, was given the go-ahead, and was officially opened in 1975 by Sir Keith Joseph MP. Designed to care for elderly patients, with six wards and a day hospital, this was located away from the main Chapel Allerton site, on the other side of Harehills Lane.

The future of the rest of the hospital remained in some doubt until 1991, when the newly created United Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust secured approval for the reprovision of the old parts of the hospital. This was to be built on to the existing Newton Green Wing, and would result in the closure of the original site.

The new Chapel Allerton Hospital (the Newton Green Wing name having disappeared) was begun in 1992 and completed in record time two years later.

Chapel Allerton Hospital was the first in Leeds to be designed with works of art commissioned as part of the building project, and numerous striking features can be seen in and around the hospital.

The old hospital, after standing empty for some time, has now been demolished, and new housing is now built on the site 'Mansion Gate'. The mansion, Gledhow Grove, a listed building with many original 19th century features, survives.

Map and aerial view of Leeds showing the location of
Gledhow Grove, Mansion Gate Chapel Allerton - Harehills at Latitude 53.825034 / Longitude -1.529653.
We have visited Leeds on a number of occasions to produce this tour, this page was created on Fri, 6 Jan 2012 18:18:16 +0000.